You’ve probably seen a tennis match. The bright yellow balls, the neon-green grass of Wimbledon, the high-tech graphite rackets. It’s all very modern. But if you step into a specific kind of stone building in Paris or London, you’ll find something that looks like it belongs in a Leonardo da Vinci sketch. This is jeu de paume. It’s the "game of the palm," the direct ancestor of almost every racket sport we play today, and honestly, it’s one of the most complex, frustrating, and rewarding games ever devised by humans.
Most people think tennis started in the 1870s with Major Walter Clopton Wingfield. They're wrong. Wingfield just patented a portable version of a game that had been played in French monasteries for seven hundred years. Jeu de paume is the real deal. It’s "Real Tennis." And no, that's not me being a snob—that is the actual name used in the UK and Australia to distinguish it from the "lawn" version.
Why jeu de paume is basically chess with a racket
Unlike modern tennis, where the court is a simple rectangle, a jeu de paume court is a nightmare of geometry. There are sloping roofs (called penthouses) running along three sides of the court. There’s a weird buttress called a tambour that sticks out of one wall, designed to kick the ball at an impossible angle. There are openings in the walls called galleries.
If you hit the ball into a specific window called the grille, you win the point. If you hit it into the dedans—the big opening behind the server—you win the point. It’s chaotic. It’s loud. The balls aren't hollow and bouncy; they are hand-stitched, solid cores of cork and fabric covered in yellow felt. They feel like rocks.
When you hit a "real" tennis ball, it doesn't zing like a Wilson or Penn. It thuds. The rackets are asymmetrical, too. They’re curved at the head because, back in the day, it was easier to scrape a ball off the floor or a wall with a lopsided frame.
The scoring? That’s where things get really weird. You’ve heard of 15, 30, 40, and game? That comes from here. Historians like Heiner Gillmeister suggest it might have been based on the face of a clock or the stakes of a bet—60 sous made a livre, so the quarters were 15, 30, and 45 (which later shortened to 40). But wait, there’s more. There are things called "chases."
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Basically, if the ball bounces twice and no one hits it, the point isn't always over. A "chase" is called at the spot of the second bounce. The players then switch sides, and the person who let it bounce has to "play off" the chase by hitting a better shot than the one they missed. It’s a game of memory as much as athleticism.
The sport that almost killed the French Monarchy
It’s not an exaggeration to say that jeu de paume changed the course of Western history. By the 16th century, the game was a madness. In Paris alone, there were hundreds of courts. King François I was obsessed. King Henry II was the best player in France.
But then came 1789. The Third Estate (the commoners) got locked out of their meeting hall at Versailles. They needed a place to assemble. They marched to the nearest indoor space large enough to hold them: the Royal Tennis Court. This is where they took the "Tennis Court Oath" (Serment du Jeu de Paume), vowing not to leave until they had written a constitution.
Think about that. The French Revolution essentially kicked off in a sports complex.
But even before the Revolution, the game was dangerous. King Louis X died after a particularly grueling match in 1316—he reportedly drank too much chilled wine after getting overheated and keeled over. Some say it was pleurisy, others suspect poison, but the match was the catalyst.
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The Gear: No, you can't buy this at Big 5
If you want to play jeu de paume today, you can’t just go to a local sports store. The equipment is incredibly niche.
- The Rackets: They are still made of wood. Brands like Grays of Cambridge have been making them for forever. They are heavy—around 350 to 380 grams—and the strings are pulled incredibly tight to handle the heavy balls.
- The Balls: This is the cool part. Every club has a "professional" (the pro) who hand-makes the balls. They take a small core, wrap it in strips of old cloth (often recycled bedsheets or curtains), tie it with twine, and then sew a yellow felt cover over it with a very specific stitch.
- The Shoes: You need grip, but also the ability to pivot on concrete or stone floors. Most players use specialized court shoes that look like something out of a 1950s gym class.
The game is expensive. Maintaining a court (which is huge and made of stone or high-end plaster) costs a fortune. Because of this, the "lifestyle" around the sport is often associated with the elite. But honestly? The community is surprisingly welcoming. If you show up at a court like the one at the Tuileries in Paris (now a museum) or the Queen’s Club in London, the people there just want more people to keep the tradition alive.
The weird physics of the "Cut"
In modern tennis, you hit top-spin. You brush up on the ball to make it dive into the court. In jeu de paume, you do the opposite. You use "cut" (heavy backspin).
Because the court has a roof and walls, you want the ball to stay low. If you hit a ball with heavy cut, it will skim the floor and then "pop" down when it hits the back wall, making it nearly impossible for your opponent to return. It’s a slicing motion, like you’re trying to carve a turkey.
This is why the pros often look like they’re dancing. The footwork is intricate because you have to judge bounces off the tambour or the penthouse while the ball is spinning like a top.
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Where can you actually play it?
There are only about 50 active jeu de paume courts left in the world.
- The UK: The undisputed home of the sport, with about 25-28 courts. Oxford, Cambridge, and Hampton Court Palace (where Henry VIII played) are the big ones.
- The US: There are about 11 courts. The Racquet and Tennis Club in New York is the most famous, but there are others in Newport, RI (at the International Tennis Hall of Fame) and Philadelphia.
- France: Surprisingly few, considering they invented it. The most famous is at Fontainebleau and the one in Paris at Rue Lauriston.
- Australia: They have a very strong scene in Melbourne and Hobart.
The World Championship is still held every two years. The current greats, like Rob Fahey (who held the title for decades) and Camden Riviere, play a game that is so fast and technical it makes "lawn" tennis look like a casual backyard hobby.
Myths vs. Reality
Myth: The game is only for old aristocrats.
Reality: While it’s expensive to build a court, many clubs have student rates and "intro to the game" sessions. It’s physically exhausting; you can easily burn 800 calories in an hour because of the constant lateral movement.
Myth: The rules are impossible to learn.
Reality: You’ll get the hang of the scoring in 10 minutes. The "chase" system takes about three games to understand. After that, it becomes addictive. It’s the strategic depth that keeps people playing into their 80s.
Myth: It’s just "indoor tennis."
Reality: It’s more like a mix of squash, tennis, and billiards. You have to account for the "English" (spin) on the ball and how it interacts with different wall surfaces.
Actionable Steps for the Curious
If you're fascinated by this relic of sporting history, don't just read about it. Here is how you actually get involved with jeu de paume:
- Visit a Historic Court: If you are in London, go to Hampton Court Palace. You can view the court from a gallery. Seeing the sheer size of the space and hearing the "crack" of the wooden racket is the only way to "get" it.
- Watch a "Real Tennis" Match Online: Search YouTube for "Camden Riviere vs Rob Fahey." Look for the 2022 or 2023 championships. Watch how they use the walls. It looks like a glitch in the matrix compared to modern tennis.
- Book a Taster Session: If you live near New York, Boston, London, or Melbourne, look up the local "Real Tennis" or jeu de paume club. Most offer a "discovery" lesson for around $50-$100 where they provide the racket and balls.
- Read the Lore: Pick up "The First Tennis Court" by Cilla Wright or "A History of Tennis" by Lord Aberdare. The stories of betting, brawling, and kings dying on the court are better than any fiction.
Jeu de paume isn't a dead sport. It’s a living museum. It survived the French Revolution, two World Wars, and the rise of the multi-billion dollar ATP tour. It survives because it’s fundamentally a better puzzle to solve than modern tennis. It’s quirky, it’s difficult, and it’s undeniably cool.